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WWE Elimination Chamber 2013 Results: Find Out Who Won Rock - CM Punk WWE Title Match, World Heavyweight Championship And More

Four WWE championship belts were defended at Elimination Chamber on Sunday. Find out who walked away with the gold, the outcome of the John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus' grudge match against The Shield, and who won this year's Elimination Chamber match. (Photo: WWE)

After The Rock captured the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble in January, and with the Biggest Event in Sports Entertainment just over one month away, all eyes in the WWE Universe were on the Superdome this weekend for the final stop on the Road to Wrestlemania 29.

Tonight's WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view kicked off at 8:00pm EST (5:00pm PST), and four of the WWE championship belts were on the line, along with a number one contender's match for the World Heavyweight championship, and a major grudge match for three fan favorite WWE Superstars. So who were the big winners and losers at WWE Elimination Chamber on Sunday?

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World Heavyweight Championship - Big Show vs. Alberto Del Rio (c)

Sunday night's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view (oddly) began almost exactly the same way as last month's Royal Rumble, with Alberto Del Rio and Big Show competing for the World Heavyweight Championship. Big Show has been on the warpath since his loss to Alberto Del Rio at the Royal Rumble last month, where a roll of a duct tape left him unable to respond to a referee's ten count in the two competitors' Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight title.

For the second month in a row, despite their placement in the opening slot on the card, Alberto Del Rio and Big Show put on an inarguable Match of the Night nominee - even with one of the worst Enziguri botches in recent memory. Unfortunately, with consecutive event opening matches, its becoming increasingly clear that the WWE either doesn't know or doesn't care how great of a rivalry they have on their hands with Del Rio and Big Show.

The match was an impressive back-and-forth contest which saw Alberto Del Rio use an impressive array of acrobatic attacks against an opponent who is obviously not used to being hit with a hurricanrana outside outside of the "WWE"/"Smackdown" gaming franchise. The Big Show looked as dominant as ever, powerbomb/side-slamming his way out of a painful-looking armbar from Del Rio, and doing great job selling a variety of maneuvers which he typically shrugs off from smaller adversaries like Rey Mysterio.

It's good to see WWE continue to push Alberto Del Rio, giving the champion the relatively clean submission victory over a massive opponent, while not doing anything to diminish the Big Show's image as a destructive giant. Now can we see these two get a higher spot on the Wrestlemania 29 card?

Winner: Alberto Del Rio (c) via submission

United States Championship - Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. The Miz

Antonio Cesaro and The Miz continued their feud with a battle for the United States Championship at Elimination Chamber on Sunday, with The Miz sporting a (presumably kayfabe) shoulder injury from a recent beating/ambush by Cesaro on Smackdown.

As is typical in WWE matches, which feature a WWE Superstar who is visibly injured prior to the opening bell, Cesaro spent much of the match employing a variety of slams and submissions which targeted the arm and shoulder of Miz; however, the Swiss wrestler simply didn't have enough to put Miz down for the count. Fortunately, a seemingly inadvertent low-blow by the Miz during a Figure Four leg lock gone wrong cost the challenger his shot at the title, though Antonio Cesaro would ultimately suffer an equally painful follow-up shot as he escaped with his United States title.

The match started relatively strong, but an anticlimactic (and poorly chosen if we're being honest) conclusion ruined any chance these two had at creating something memorable on this night. Was it really that hard to come up with a finish that didn't involve sucking out all of the life that Antonio Cesar and The Miz just spent several minutes pumping into the crowd?

Before the night's first Elimination Chamber match began, we were treated to a typical WWE video package explaining how deadly of a match the audience was about to witness. In case you weren't aware, though it has yet to actually do so, the WWE swears that the Elimination Chamber is capable of ending a man's career. It's also made with six tons of steel, a bunch of chains, bulletproof glass, the still-beating heart of a dragon, and you get the point. Let's get to the good stuff.

Just kidding. Next it was time for a speech from Jack Swagger's Tea Party parodying new manager Zeb Colter, which was thankfully cut (somewhat) short by the entrance of Kane. The remaining competitors then made their way to the ring, everyone was locked in their pods, and it was finally time for some action between the first two Elimination Chamber entrants.

The match began with two Elimination Chamber veterans, Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan, who had each succesfully won the match pioneered by former WWE personality Eric Bischoff. Jericho and Bryan traded tosses, kicks, and a variety of other offensive maneuvers before taking the battle to the steel-frame which wrapped around the ring. The fighting continued until Jack Swagger emerged to clean house, leaving "Y2J" and the smaller half of Team Hell No looking much worse for wear. Kane was the next to emerge, and it looked as if the Big Red Machine and Daniels would work together in the early moments, but a quick betrayal from Daniel Bryan ended any chance of cooperation for the WWE Tag Team champions. The crowd watched in surprise as Team Hell No began to destroy itself from within, though it wasn't long before Jericho and Jack Swagger were involved in the brutality once more.

Randy Orton injected new life into the match, though he didn't have quite the house-cleaning entrance of Swagger or Kane. The Apex Predator set his sights on Kane, leaving the big man down for an extended period with a hanging DDT from the middle rope to the steel grating. The action continued, and a dual superplex left all of the WWE Superstars easy targets for Mark Henry as entered the Elimination Chamber from the final pod. Henry made an immediate impact, eliminating both Kane and Bryan Daniel with high-impact slams, and sending Randy Orton crashing through the glass of a ringside pod.

Just as it seemed that there would be no stopping The World's Strongest Man, Swagger and Jericho managed to slow Henry with a two-man suplex on the Elimination Chamber's steel frame. The temporary allies returned to fighting one another, but Henry would appear again just as it looked like "Y2J" might pin Jack Swagger for the three count. A botched splash attempt left Henry exposed to an RKO, and Randy Orton sent the largest remaining competitor home without a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. Henry wasn't quite finished though.

The World's Strongest Man passed out three World's Strongest Slams to each of the remaining WWE Superstars before Smackdown general manager Booker T and a cadre of referees could restore order to the match.

The three men brawled for a surprisingly long time before it finally looked as if a winner would emerge from the pack. A double DDT left the Apex Predator standing tall over both Swagger and Jericho, and the Orton didn't waste any time with a follow-up RKO to get a three-count pin on "Y2J" Chris Jericho. Unfortunately, Swagger -- who had remained largely absent for several minutes after possibly giving himself a concussion after being whipped into the turnbuckle/ringside pod -- rolled Orton up with a surprise pin to capture his shot at the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania 29 next month.

After months of mid-match and backstage ambushes at the hands of The Shield, the all-star team of John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus wasn't interested in waiting for the opening bell on Sunday, taking the fight to Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns before the trio had finished their ring entrance through the New Orleans crowd.

The pacing of the match stayed high during the match's early stages, with The Shield's Dean Ambros weathering an early offensive assault from Sheamus and John Cena before the trio turned the tables on the two former WWE title holders. However,Cena soon found himself the lone target of the NXT crossovers, and The Shield did their best to completely dismantlethe 10-time former WWE Champion. Ryback remained absent for much of the early stages of the highly anticipated three-on-three match, but made his presence known when he finally received the hot tag from John Cena after taking a multi-minute beating from The Shield. Ryback laid waste to Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose to a soundtrack of "Feed me more!" chants from the fired-up WWE fans in attendance at the Superdome.

His momentum wouldn't last though, with Roman Reigns breaking up Ryback's momentum before spearing Sheamus straight through a ringside barricade. As the two lay among the chairs and broken barricade pieces, Ryback and John Cena began to take control of the match back from the trio of giants. Just as it looked like the two Superstars would capture the win, with Cena dropping Dean Ambrose with the Attitude Adjustment, a devastating spear from Reigns to Ryback mid-Shellshock left Seth Rollins lying on top of Ryback for the three count victory.

Winner: The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns)

Kofi Kingston vs. Dolph Ziggler

After Dolph Ziggler emerged from the back to complain about his absence from the card, Smackdown general manager Booker T decided to put the most recent Money in the Bank winner into an impromptu match against former Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston.

Dolph Ziggler has never been a particularly impressive in-ring performer, and his continued push by the WWE doesn't make much sense to us. Kingston had momentum for most of the match, using a variety of high-flying moves both in and out of the ring to dismantle Ziggler and his associate Big E.

Ultimately, Ziggler captured the win with a surprise neckbreaker before the focus switched to Big E's systematic destruction of Kofi Kingston as payback for using attacking him more than once throughout the course of the match. It's possible that the brief segment was meant to push Big E as a force separate from Dolph Ziggler, but it's unclear why the WWE would choose to do so directly after a Dolph Ziggler semi-squash match. Outside of burning a few minutes, which could easily have been added to any of the impressive contests which had already taken place, we're not entirely sure this match was added to the Elimination Chamber card.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler via pinfall

WWE Divas Championship Kaitlyn (c) vs. Tamina Snuka

It's good to see the WWE Divas division becoming more important to the company than a bunch of women that Vince McMahon can put on a calendar, and tonight's match between Kaitlyn and Tamina Snuka proved that you shouldn't always assume a Divas match is the best possible choice for the evening's mid-event restroom break.

While the match didn't last long, Snuka and Kaitlyn battled in and out of the ring as the rest of the WWE Divas watched from a television backstage. The WWE is clearly trying to push Snuka as the new physically dominant diva, in the same mold as Kharma or Beth Phoenix.

The daughter of Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka put up a hell of a fight against the WWE Divas champion, but Kaitlyn managed to hold onto her title at Elimination Chamber on Sunday night after a missed top-rope splash left Snuka wide-open. Kaitlyn made Snuka pay for the botched attack with a big spear and a pinfall to seal Sunday evening's title defense.

Winner: Kaitlyn (c) via pinfall

WWE Championship - The Rock (c) vs. CM Punk (with Paul Heyman)

It's been less than 30 days since The Rock beat CM Punk at WWE Royal Rumble last month, capturing his first WWE Championship in more than a decade and ending the 434 day title reign of CM Punk. Punk didn't take the loss lightly, stealing The Rock's WWE Championship belt during a recent episode of WWE Raw, and taunting the Brahma Bull with the stolen gold as recently as WWE Smackdown two nights ago.

The WWE Championship belt was still in Punk's possession at Elimination Chamber too, and manager Paul Heyman held the title high over the former champion's head as they made their way to the ring on Sunday. The Rock was fired up when he hit the ring, and CM Punk's early strategy seemed to be hinge on his attempts to provoke the Brahma Bull into getting himself disqualified from the match. While championship belts don't typically change hands in the event of a disqualification or count-out victory, a stipulation in tonight's match would allow the WWE Championship to officially change hands in the event of such a finish.

Unfortunately, all CM Punk managed to do was get himself smacked around a little bit, before finally taking back control of the match with a series of submission maneuvers. Punk dominated much of the match, falling back on what many would consider to be underhanded tactics whenever it looked as if The Rock might regain the upper hand. At one point, Punk even managed to clinch a count-out victory over The Great One after delivering a Rock Bottom to The Rock on an announcer's table. Nothing seemed to keep the wrestler-turned-actor down long enough for a referee's three-count, and the tides finally turned in favor of The Rock after an irish whip left the match's original referee incapable of counting CM Punk's post-GTS pin of the Brahma Bull.

The crowd began to count in antipication, noting that CM Punk had clearly downed The Rock for much longer than a standard three count; however, the People's Champ had recovered by the tiem a second ref hit the ring. Of course, the second official would soon depart with an apparent ankle injury, leaving Punk high and dry once more while The Rock lay lifeless on the mat. Frustration forced Punk to resort to his most underhanded tactics of the night -- attempting to bash Rock across the skull with his stolen WWE Championship belt -- but the plan backfired. Punk missed the Rock, and sent Paul Heyman crashing to the floor.

Within moments, CM Punk found himself on the wrong end of another Rock Bottom. Clearly, the second time was simply too much for the former WWE champion, leaving him unable to kick out when The Rock covered him for the pin. As it turned out, not only would 2013 be the year that The Rock won the WWE Championship again, but a year that saw him successfully defend it in February and presumably headline Wrestlemania 29 on April 7.

Winner: The Rock (c) via pinfall

What did you think of tonight's WWE Elimination Chamber pay-per-view? Was there a match(s) that you wish turned out differently? What do you think will happen on Raw tomorrow night?

Let us know in the comments section!

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